North Dakota and Montana have an estimated 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil in an area known as the Bakken Formation.

A U.S. Geological Survey assessment, released April 10, shows a 25-fold increase in the amount of oil that can be recovered compared to the agency's 1995 estimate of 151 million barrels of oil. - more

CONFESSIONS OF AN "EX" PEAK OIL BELIEVER

by F. William Engdahl
September 25, 2007

"...An entirely alternative theory of oil formation has existed since the early 1950’s in Russia, almost unknown to the West. It claims conventional American biological origins theory is an unscientific absurdity that is un-provable. They point to the fact that western geologists have repeatedly predicted finite oil over the past century, only to then find more, lots more...." - more

Oil Shale Potential:

Eastern

Marcellus Shale
Super Giant Field in the Appalachians?
A few years ago every geologist involved in Appalachian Basin oil and gas knew about the Devonian black shale called the Marcellus...
...In early 2008, Terry Englande... ...and Gary Lash surprised everyone with estimates that the Marcellus might contain more than 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas... ...That volume of natural gas would be enough to supply the entire United States for about two years and have a wellhead value of about one trillion dollars...!
...The events described above are not unique to the northeastern United States... ...the Barnett Shale of Texas... ...the Fayetteville Shale of northcentral Arkansas, the Haynesville Shale of northwestern Louisiana... ...are just a few of several unconventional gas plays now happening in the United States and Canada. Similar organic shale deposits in other parts of the world might also produce gas as use of the new technologies spread. - more

Western

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management today (July 22, 2008) published proposed regulations to establish a commercial oil shale program that could result in the addition of up to 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil from lands in the western United States. - more

The Bureau of Land Management today (September 4, 2008 )finalized a plan to guide the use of public lands containing oil shale and tar sands.
In its Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to be published in tomorrow's (Sept. 5) Federal Register, the BLM amends 12 land-use plans in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming to set aside approximately 1.9 million acres of public lands for potential commercial oil shale development.
"The goal of the BLM’s oil shale program is to promote economically viable and environmentally sound production of oil shale on Western lands, where we estimate deposits hold the equivalent of 800 billion barrels of oil – enough to meet U.S. demand for imported oil at current levels for 110 years," said BLM Director Jim Caswell. - more

Tar Sands & Oil Shale

'Tar Sands' is a colloquialism for what are technically described as bituminous sands, and commonly known as oil sands - more

'Oil Shale' - Geologists may regard the name oil shale as a misnomer, since the rock does not necessarily consist of a shale and its kerogen differs from crude oil - more

Record of Decision Sets Stage for Major Oil Lease Sale

In a Record of Decision issued today(July 16, 2008), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced that it will make land available for oil and gas leasing in the northeast portion of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A).
“This action sets the stage for a major lease sale this fall. -more

BLM to Continue Accepting Solar Energy Applications

In response to public interest in solar energy development, the Bureau of Land Management is announcing that it plans to continue accepting applications for future potential solar development on the public lands...
...The BLM had previously advised that it was temporarily suspending acceptance of new solar applications pending completion of the PEIS, while the agency processed the 125 applications previously received. - more

Substantial Power Generation from Domestic Geothermal Resources

The results of this assessment indicate that full development of the conventional, identified systems alone could expand geothermal power production by approximately ... 260%... ...The resource estimate for unconventional EGS is more than an order of magnitude larger than the combined estimates for both identified and undiscovered conventional geothermal resources and, if successfully developed, could provide an installed geothermal electric power generation capacity equivalent to about half of the currently installed electric power generating capacity in the United States. - more

My Plastic Fantastic Passive Solar Heater has been taken down to accommodate the installation of new government subsidized replacement windows. Windows which will save tons of energy but won't collect any additional heat.

I will miss my "sunny summer window" and not having it may motivate me to design and install something permanent prettier.
Here are some similar ideas.

A product from Conserval Engineering in Toronto, Canada. They offer This Solar Wall idea which provides a surface that heats up in the sun. It is perforated and warms air drawn through it by a duct and fan system.
I think with the right plastic and engineering you could heat the wall directly.

Conserval has other products including a brilliant system that uses Solar Ducts and photovoltaic panels providing warm air and keeping them from overheating which can shorten their useful life.

"The idea behind solar walls -- which have been used since the early 1980s -- is straightforward, and that makes them cheap", said Jeff Scott, president of SolSource, a Denver-based company that distributes the brand-name SolarWall technology being used at Summit Middle.

Hey! and here's a gallery of similar warm air installations available to the home owner.

Seems to me that more could be done for less money with frame and glazing using the wall for heat production and storage on some of the installations:; more about these here and a very nicely done account of an installation here

I found a man named Kevin Stewart in the December 1980 Popular Science magazine who really did an extensive version of this type of solar heating on his house in Mansfield, Massachusetts.
You can read about it here Could someone nearby this place drive by and tell me what's up with it after 27+ years. And does anyone know what Kevin Stewart is up to?

I hope there are many of you who are willing to share your ideas and applications. I will host

buttons for people who share ideas on the site.

Please use this one if you are inspired by my Passive Solar Heater or if you just want to support the site.
If you have a solar story to tell please send me an email: starstuff@solarevolution.net. I have suspended registration but will consider registering interested participants on a case by case basis

The Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE) is a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility, and selected federal incentives that promote renewable energy. DSIRE now includes incentives for energy efficiency.

Installing solar panels on homes is an economic "loser" with the costs far outweighing the financial benefit, a respected University of California-Berkeley business professor said Wednesday.
The technology, using photovoltaic panels to generate electricity, is not economically competitive with fossil fuels and costs more than other renewable fuels, said Severin Borenstein, who also directs the UC Energy Institute.
"We are throwing away money by installing the current solar PV technology," he said.
Not surprisingly, the solar industry reacted strongly to the report.
Neal Lurie with the American Solar Energy Society called the study "a publicity stunt."
"Borenstein doesn't give proper credit to the important role that competition and economies of scale play in driving down costs," he said.
And Julie Blunden, a vice president with San Jose's SunPower, said Borenstein's analysis was "deeply flawed."
"He seems to be disconnected from the empirical data in the market," she said. "He doesn't seem to have much peripheral vision from his ivory tower...."